Paper short abstract:

This paper examines how the adoption of new vaccines by India can be situated within the discourses (nexus of power and knowledge) of nationalism by scrutinising the historical and political processes that accompanied the project of nation building after colonial rule.Furthermore in the present scenario the adoption of these new age vaccines can serve as a tool for the consolidation of India’s power position within the global health community.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I examine discourses on vaccine adoption in two ways. I firstly, I analyse how the adoption of new technologies like vaccines (the specific case of Hib/pentavalent vaccine) by India, can be located in the nationalist discourses of nation building which is to achieved through advancements in science and technology. I argue that improving the health and the productivity of the population through investments in scientific and technological solutions like vaccines has become a marker for 'progressive state'. Secondly, at present when India is actively trying to posit itself as a leader (especially among the third-world countries) of modern, efficient and low cost innovations of technology and also as a fast and effective adapter of the same, disease control programmes though vaccinations and introduction of new age combination vaccines like the Hib/pentavalent serves as an effort in the direction of image building, in achieving the MDGs, and thereby strengthening India's position of power within the global public health community.

I will supplement my arguments by data from interviews with multiple stakeholders in policy making and policy influencing: bureaucrats, politicians, the representatives from the international organisations and the international foundations, academics, people from the media, doctors and public health practitioners who function as consultants in policy making for the Hib/pentavalent vaccine introduction policy in India. Hib/pentavalent vaccine was introduced in the India on Sept 2011 amidst much controversy (regarding contestation over disease burden, vaccine safety and cost effectiveness) as a pilot in the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.